Reflection of Evil
by Cut Productions
Summary: Seven years ago he saw flames. Today he sees moonlight. Seven years ago he heard screams. Today he hears the calm breeze. He's has found change, but what was the price that he paid for it?


**GREETINGS, AWIRT (AnyoneWhoIsReadingThis)! (*ahem*) This is my first Sonic the Hedgehog (posted) fanfic, and my first fanfiction oneshot, and second solo-story. I've been writing this off-and-on for awhile, while also working on my Onettsons. This has gone through a lot of editing, so I hope it was worthwhile. Also, you, AWIRT, should know what this means: ****(*) = beginning/end of flashback.**

**And so without further ado…**

_To God be the Glory_

Reflection of Evil

The moon was unusually bright, even for the Great Gardens. The light reflected off of the pools and spread itself across the entire orchard. It didn't glare or gleam, but simply shimmered and gave illumination to the night.

For one such as Shadow the Hedgehog, these were the ideal surroundings. Here he could see perfectly, yet remain perfectly shrouded. He was always a bit uncomfortable when he was out in the open.

He came to the garden often, mostly to be alone. After all, he always got in for free (it was closed and supposed to be vacant). But, given the vastness of it, his current location in the forest of greenery was new to him. A cool wind blew through his quills, and the feeling of the passing breeze inspired his bored mind to explore the uncharted paths around him. Opening his crimson eyes, Shadow uncrossed his arms on his chest and began to walk slowly to the east.

It was quite refreshing, really. The wind that first stirred him was now at a constant pace, giving the restless hedgehog a feeling of serenity. The smell of flowers in bloom kept his nose busy, as he quietly challenged himself to sort out each scent to their owners.

It had been exactly 5.32 minutes of this when it happened. He was walking among a small maze of finely trimmed hedges, when suddenly his relaxed body stiffened. His eyes quickly scanned the area, frisking every detail. Then his eyes fell down to the ground directly beneath his feet. Frown turning to snarl, the Ultimate Life Form jumped back. Something was underneath there, something unfriendly.

In the back of his mind, Shadow pitied the gardener who would have to deal with a number of miniature craters and scorch marks in his flowers. He waited, and waited, until he doubted his own sanity. Slowly, he brought himself out of his tense fighting stance and stared dumbly at the spot on the well-tilled earth. He crept up to it, suspecting a sneak attack from every direction. Laying his hand on the spot of disturbance, realization dawned on Shadow.

He brought both hands up, and almost inaudibly said the words, "_Chaos Spear._" Immediately, an arrow shaped glowing projectile appeared from behind him and crashed right into the ground with a flash. Shadow glared mercilessly at the once fine patch of dirt, and dug his hands into the now 'softened' terrain. Sifting through the hole, he finally made contact with the cause of his interruption.

Slowly and steadily, He uncovered an object covered with dirt, mud, and other miscellaneous debris. Wiping it off, the cleaned product caused everything to click in Shadow's brain.

Mixed feelings coursed through his being as he stared at what was in his hands. He must have been gazing for a long time, for by the time he looked back up the moon had changed its position in the sky. Peering back down at his possession with slit eyes, he felt it vibrate in his hands. He ran his palm along its edge, and instantly it brought back memories. Memories from seven years ago.

(*)

The GUN unit looked up, and even with the visor masking him, Shadow could tell the soldier was scared. Yet, the ebony hedgehog felt no sympathy toward him. Only, and ONLY rage. Rage at who he represented. Rage at what he was a part of. Rage at what he was doing. Rage at who he was.

As if the Ultimate Life Form's face wasn't enough to tell the soldier that his days were coming to an end, Shadow silently Chaos-Controlled a pistol to his hand. An evil pleasure overcame Shadow at the sinister irony of this moment, for he saw the weapon in his grasp was the same model that had been used to kill the innocent 'Maria' from the image lodged in his brain.

His victim's head was covered with a terrified expression as the barrel lowered to stare him down. The Ultimate One's snarl transformed into something between that and a smirk as he pulled the trigger.

"_CRACK!"_

(*)

Shadow gritted his teeth at the image—no, memory—of the corpse lying before him on the asphalt road. Looking back down to his current firearm, another wave of recollection washed over him.

(*)

"C'mon, Shadow! Snap out of it!"

Sonic quickly jumped out of the way to avoid Shadow's 'response' to his first comment. The blue hedgehog had obviously lost sleep after dodging bullets for the past few days, and now it was starting to get to him. Panting softly, the blue blur's green eyes made contact with the Ultimate Life Form's answering red ones.

"Can't you see that those black aliens aren't on your side? They're just using you!"

"Well, can you offer me any better if I join you!" Shadow shot back as he home-attacked Sonic backwards onto the ramp's edge. The blue one flailed his arms to keep his balance, but to no avail as the black one merely tapped him backwards mockingly with a single finger. Off the shattered battleground bridge the hedgehog fell, down toward the fighting inferno below.

Sonic landed awkwardly on a pile of broken concrete below his previous diving platform. This did not help his predicament, for it was surrounded by flames. This gave him barely enough footing as his rival launched himself onto the rubble pile with a _crunch_, gun and all.

"Shadow! You have to st-"

A swift backswing stopped Sonic cold in mid-sentence. Shadow looked on with hidden contentment as the blue hedgehog finally crumbled to his knees, and toppled over.

Looking up, he saw that he was needed elsewhere. Throwing his unarmed hand up, he activated Chaos-Control, and blasted away.

(*)

_Bump_

Shadow opened his eyes. "_Oh, this is embarrassing_," he thought as he realized he had been walking in the midst of his flashback, and, of course, bumped into something. A small tree with a rounded canopy of leaves, to be more precise.

Sometimes, he impressed even himself. Wondering what had caused him to start walking, the hedgehog looked at the silvery shell of the object, and how it reflected the moonlight like one of the many pools. Speaking (or thinking) of pools, Shadow noticed one nearby and strode over to it as his next flashback began.

(*)

"Ah, Shadow. I'm so glad you're here!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow as the pink hedgehog followed him, wondering why in the world **she** was here. Dismissing it as unimportant, the Ultimate Life Form proceeded to ignore her as he took a gun lying on the ground, undoubtedly left by a late combatant in the near battle.

"Cream went into this castle Dr. Eggman made, but she hasn't come back yet! Would you help me look for her?" He heard her asking from behind. So that was why she was here. As if it was of any importance.

"_Just what I needed. Someone else to annoy me._" He continued jumping, rolling, and shooting across Cryptic Castle, when another voice entered his world.

"Hey, Shadow!"

"_What now?_" Shadow thought in exasperation.

"Those black aliens have infiltrated my castle!" the voice of Dr. Eggman emitted from a floating TV that came seemingly out of nowhere. "I'd like you to go light those giant lanterns. They're part of my special defenses!" he acclaimed proudly.

"Shadow, please! Could you please help me find Cream?" the pink hedgehog asked. The black one could tell she was going to be persistent.

"Shadow! Those black creatures are going to wreak havoc unless you activate my security system!" And the doctor was going to be persistent, too. Why did this happen to him everywhere he went? It was like some pre-determined setup that forced him to choose a dark, heroic, or neutral path in order to determine his destiny, or something. "Forget the pink brat! Her friend will be just fine!"

After taking out numerous Black Arm and Eggman soldiers, Shadow glanced back at his two wannabe clients, hoping against hope that they had left. But sadly, they were still there, or rather _she _was still there. He saw the girl, now where was the monitor?

"Come Shadow! The first lantern is just up ahead!" Eggman's voice commanded from the rising screen as it led him towards a hot air balloon, undoubtedly meant to take Shadow to the first fire-pit. The voice held a tone of impatience, revealing that he did not even consider the outcome of Shadow refusing him as a possibility.

The mere fact that the scientist believed he would obey him without his own agreement infuriated the almighty Ultimate Life Form. If the arrogant fool thought that he had an Ultimate Slave at his disposal, he was going to see otherwise. This fat man would learn his place, starting with his floating TV. A short spin jump later, the hedgehog left the wrecked machine behind and grabbed on to the balloon, planning to use it for his _own_ purposes.

Without looking back, he motioned to the pink hedgehog behind to follow with a wave of the hand. This apparently shocked her. "You're-you're going to help me?" she asked timidly. A fierce, impatient glance in reply somehow communicated 'yes' to her, and she ran after him as best she could before he took off.

(*)

Well, apparently all the decisions he made then hadn't been for the bad or the worse. Nevertheless, the majority of them had been…vicious, to say the least. Even the last ones he had committed, the decisions to save Earth from a destiny worse than enslavement, had been destructive to more than just the Black Arms.

"I'm getting too sentimental," Shadow sighed as he lifted the object up to the moonlight. Its twin barrels pointed skyward as, for reasons unknown to him, the ebony animal cocked the gun. Immediately, he dropped it, and took a step backwards as it hit the ground with a _thud_. The alien weapon laughed at his weakness through its humming, daring him to pick it up again.

He eyed it. The taunts the gun and the memories threw at him made him step forward and reach his hand out to prove them wrong. He then-

"_No, that isn't me._" He stopped. He repeated the words in his head as he backed away, slowly. "_That isn't me. That isn't me. That isn't me._" He turned around, refusing to look at the reminder of all that was in the past. "_Not me…_"

He stopped again. What was he saying? Of course that was him. It was him who had been the murderer so many humans. It was him who had watched idly as monsters foreign to this world had attacked. And it was also him who had banished the Black Arms from the planet. That was who he was. But not who he is.

He turned his head to look at the firearm. "Chaos Spear."

A minute later, Shadow walked to the perimeter of the Great Gardens, blocked by a high, barred, fence, and cleared it with a swift jump. Looking up, he saw the sun rising. He could just hear the sounds of the far off Central City come to life. A new day had begun.

Activating his hover-shoes, the Ultimate Life Form tore across the endless fields of grass, going to no place in particular. He was just going.

He had done so much in order to destroy. That he knew all too well. But that was seven years ago. Today he was different. He was going to prove that. He had promised her he would.

**Wow, I'm done with this. Well, what did you guys (or gals) (or robots) (or hedgehogs) (or hedgehog-human-hybrids; hmmm…) think? I want an honest opinion. No one-liner reviews, AWIRT.**

**Either way, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm kinda using this as a learning experience on how to characterize Shadow. How'd I do on that?**

**Also, this may end up having a 'sequel'. I've already started another 'Shadow story', which will probably reference this a few times; IF I get to posting it (I'm currently busy with 'Onettsons')**

**This is Nacartor of Cut Productions, signing off.**


End file.
